Actually it’s a pretty damming article. Everton were seriously worried that he would poison the team. Also there was no interest from AC Milan. Just Porto and the Turkish team.
This is pre or post Benitez? I thought I'd read reporting attributed to the Athletic that James was told very early the club when him out.
So that's a couple instances of James being a perceived poison in the locker room now. That's gonna be bad for his future prospects. I can't believe that a year ago we were all talking about how Everton was too small a club for him and he's now playing in Qatar and was essentially kicked off the national team for a few months.
Pre some of the players were pissed about his special treatment. Taking off on the private plane before the season ended wasn’t cool. Or that he missed a game because of fatigue
The end of season thing was very awkward. The whole fatigue thing is stupid. The only players allowed to use fatigue as an excuse are those who play more than 45 games during a season.
Hope rumours are false and he inst being called up for these october matches.... Rueda decision to take him out of the called up in june...was also related to this times of the private plane ....all the other players arrived to barranquilla a week before and he was in public events.......
The guy's ego has gone sky high and he's in a humiliating position, after minimally playing for a few years now. I actually think Rueda and Benitez have done the right thing, if he's becoming toxic a guy with that much influence and talent can completely ruin a team. Rueda bringing him back can also be the right move, James knows that his words hold weight and that he won't be able to get away with bullshit and James clearly still wants to play for Colombia desperately. If he goes toxic ice him out again.
If he gets called up, I hope Rueda will test him by sitting him to see his reaction and that of his teammates. But truthfully, there are so many more deserving of a call-up before James.
I have always held the opinion that call ups for the national team shouldn't be a reward, James hasn't done anything to deserve a call up from a playing or attitude perspective. I think call ups should be what's best for the team and who is best to help us achieve our goals, and clearly James is still and has shown he's important to us on the field talent wise. I can for sure see a situation where he's too toxic and it hurts the group, but if that can be eliminated and he can be managed properly I still think we'd benefit from having him there. Rueda has shown he's willing to make the hard decision and I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt that he'll yank the chain if it needs to be done.
The team has functioned much better when playing with a 10 in limited opps and weve missed the clarity to attacking opportunities that having one of the field affords when weve not had one. I think JFQ can do the job with James as the other person who can do it with excellence when fit. The issue is that JFQ's league has been out for about 8 weeks, so with James training with Everton and now in Qatar, he's likely in the same physio shape - question is match fitness and there is only one way to find out. I like the idea of calling him and maybe using as a sub in the first fixture and observing his behavior in the locker room. As much as I am a massive supporter of Valoyes getting called up, he would play a different tactical role (which is also important god forbid something ever happen to C4 or he gets tired!). Unfortunately, Campaz and Santi Moreno are adapting much slower to their new environments so some of the youth in attacking mid/wing is not available I'd hoped for at this stage.
I'll admit, I know nothing about James' new league. Are they in the middle of their season? When is their next game? Is the team any good, do they play in the Asian Champions League? I'd love to see him get some game action before he gets called up to the NT to better judge.
Looks like they are 3 games into their season, the team has two ties and a loss. They were in Asian CL last season and looks like they finished 3rd so I'm assuming they are this year. Man looking at this team they have no South Americans and the whole squad looks to be mainly Qatari. James wasn't happy at Everton with Mina and a decent South American contingent and I doubt Qatar will have a single Spanish speaker in the squad and the level of player will probably be pretty damn low. The guy is just so stupid, he wasn't happy at Bayern, wasn't happy and wanted to leave Everton, seemed to alienate himself for Colombia recently and then he goes and moves to possibley the most isolating choice he could make in a country that has very, very different culture to the west. He's just such a bad decision maker, looking at this team and this situation its bad and likely to make him miserable. It's better then not playing for sure, but dude what is going on in your brain after the last 4-5 years of not playing and feeling isolated (I imagine) that this is a good idea when you knew you wanted to leave Everton????
🚨 Por decisión técnica basada en la falta de preparación, James Rodríguez no será convocado mañana por #AlRayyan ante #AlKhor @mohamedelgazar4 pic.twitter.com/gMxOoAKiAA— Pipe Sierra (@PSierraR) September 26, 2021
Wtf does he do with his time off? I know game shape is different but it feels like he doesn’t even try
I think he's been training on fitness the past couple of days and hadn't been doing the match prep with the team. Its interesting because if the assumption is he will do whatever he wants there, he would have walked on.
Hey guys just wondering - does anyone know if James is due to play tonight for Al Rayyan vs Al Khor, or will his debut be later? The stadium is literally on my way home from work and $2.50 for a ticket so was thinking to pop on by.. if not won't bother... oh nevermind, edit - just saw the tweet below. Guess that's official then, pretty difficult to get news here. Maybe the weekend game then.